Athena Grimes says she grew up in mainstream Mormonism under a mother who used "personal revelation" to justify extreme control, isolation, punishment, and abuse — including telling her at age 9 that God wanted her to sacrifice Athena, according to an interview on the Cults to Consciousness YouTube channel that has drawn nearly 49,000 views in 22 hours.

Grimes describes a childhood shaped by her mother's claims of direct divine communication, which she says were used to rationalize behavior that went far beyond typical Mormon practice. The interview explores how religious authority and personal revelation claims can be weaponized within a faith tradition that emphasizes both.

The video is part of a series examining high-control religious environments. Grimes' account focuses on her experience within the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, not a fundamentalist offshoot.